The OptionsANIMAL Blog

From time to time, someone will ask me, “What is a covered put?”. I pause as I know that the following conversation pertains to a little used and often misunderstood strategy. A strategy that has a potentially unlimited risk. A strategy that can be used with a bearish outlook and […]

It’s that time of year again where we reflect on our successes as well as our not-so-successfuls… For many of us, this means that we review the areas of our activities that are the most important to us individually. To some, getting back in shape was their biggest resolution, or […]

For the past three months, the major market indices have tended to trade within a relatively tight range. This has made it difficult for traders to find stocks that are presenting any significant directionality. Take a look at the chart of the S&P 500 below: Notice that a significant level […]

As an educator in the field of options trading, I’m often asked “what causes a short call or a short put to be assigned?” Before I can answer that question I need to briefly explain what an option is, some of the terminology used, and who the participants in the […]

One of the benefits of being a coach for OptionsANIMAL is that I get to see the paper trading portfolios of our students. To say that I have seen some interesting trades and some interesting portfolios would be an understatement. Most of the time the portfolios and the trades are […]

One of the benefits of being a coach for OptionsANIMAL is that I get to see the paper trading portfolios of our students. To say that I have seen some interesting trades and some interesting portfolios would be an understatement. Most of the time the portfolios and the trades are […]

What exactly is it that causes a stock’s price to rise or fall? Economists will tell you that it’s the market forces attempting to find the equilibrium point between supply and demand. So the next logical question then would be; what causes supply and demand to become unbalanced? The answer […]

In the world of equity options, there are two broad categories of spread trades; the debit spread and the credit spread. What are they and how are they different? In this article I will define each and touch on why a trader might use one over the other. Before I […]

So, what is a stock anyway? Buying a stock signifies buying a piece of the company it’s issued from. It’s an ownership position. Owning stock in a company means a piece of every desk, computer and most importantly a portion of the company’s profits belongs to you. Stock in a […]

Risk management is a critical component of successful investing. Without proper risk management, investing becomes little more than a haphazard activity which is unlikely to produce consistently positive results. Proper risk management involves a commitment to disciplined trading. In this article I’m going to discuss two broad areas of risk […]